Upstate congressmen won't give ground in tax debate

Nov. 7, 2012

Rep. Trey Gowdy, right, speaks with Bob Taylor of Greenville County Council during an election results watching party hosted by the Greenville County Republican Party at Caesars on Tuesday. / Heidi Heilbrunn/Staff

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One day after President Barack Obama won a second term, the Upstate’s GOP representatives in the U.S. House gave little hint that they would be willing to bend in their opposition to raising taxes on the wealthy to avoid leading the federal government over a “fiscal cliff” in January.

“When I look at the results of the election, it becomes clear to me that the House is now the last line of defense for preserving freedom in this country,” 3rd District Rep. Jeff Duncan of Laurens said. “The people of South Carolina clearly rejected President Obama’s policies, and I intend to fight on their behalf.”

His counterpart in the 4th District, Trey Gowdy of Spartanburg, said, “The president won re-election. So too did the GOP House. The American people want a frank, honest, civil, fact-centered discussion and debate on the best path forward.”

The remarks by two congressmen who had just been re-elected from districts where Republican Mitt Romney scored solid wins, came as Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio – a crucial state that tipped the scales for Obama in Tuesday’s election – sounded a somewhat more conciliatory tone.

“If there is a mandate in yesterday’s results, it’s a mandate for us to find a way to work together on solutions to the challenges that we all face as a nation,” Boehner told reporters in Washington.

He said he’d be willing to go along with some “additional revenues” to trim the deficit, as long as the Democrats are willing to make some concessions on spending.

“In order to garner Republican support for new revenues, the president must be willing to reduce spending and to shore up entitlement programs that are the primary drivers of our debt,” Boehner said. “We’re asking him to make good on his balanced approach.”

Boehner noted that the failure of budget negotiators to come to terms earlier this year put the government on the edge of a “fiscal cliff” of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that neither side is willing to accept.

The so-called fiscal cliff, which the government faces because of the failure of a bipartisan congressional “supercommittee” to reach an agreement on cutting the deficit, includes the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts, a $55 billion cut in defense spending and $55 billion cut in domestic programs, and a 2 percent cut to Medicare providers, according to The Associated Press.

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Among other measures, it also would end the 2 percent reduction in payroll taxes Obama put in place and impose an “alternative minimum tax” on about 26 million households which would raise their taxes by an average of $3,700, the AP reported.

Some economists fear it could send the nation’s economy back into recession.

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of Charleston, the state’s lone Democratic member of Congress and the assistant Democratic leader in the House, told GreenvilleOnline.com that he is placing his hopes on the Democratic-majority Senate to pass bills that the president could then sell to the American public, which would put pressure on Boehner and the House Republicans to take action.

“That’s where the pressure comes from. Not from Jim Clyburn but from the American people,” he said.

Gowdy said the House already took action that could have resolved the fiscal issues, such as the so-called “cut, cap and balance” plan to trim spending, hold costs down and call for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

That “would have averted the downgrade and the debt crisis but never received debate and genuine consideration in the Senate,” he said. “And there will be efforts again beginning as early as next week to provide tax rate certainty while avoiding draconian cuts to defense spending.”

Duncan sounded a similar theme.

“Over the past two years, the House has had a history of passing important legislation while Democrats in the Senate have done nothing,” he said. “Republicans have no intention of negotiating with ourselves. If we’re going to solve some of these major issues facing our country, the Senate is first going to have to learn how to pass a bill.”

Clyburn blamed Republicans, who he said had “misused and abused” the filibuster rule to thwart action by Democrats.

With the election now in the past and the Democrats retaining control of the White House and the Senate, the political dynamics have shifted in ways that could take some of the pressure off Republican hardliners that has kept Washington in a state of gridlock for at least two years, said Clemson University political scientist Bruce Ransom.

“There may be some opportunity for cooperation at some level to demonstrate to the electorate that things can get done,” he said.

Clyburn, whose home county went for Obama over Romney, said the Democrat’s victory Tuesday should make it clear to members of Congress that his victory in 2008 was no anomaly and that they need to get down to business with him.

“I guess it is possible to win the first time on emotions. And there were a lot of emotions involved in 2008,” Clyburn said. “But this re-election went from the heart to the head. This was about policy.

“The president had a record that he laid out for the American people and they responded overwhelmingly.”